Easy Wine Bottle Elf Gifts (Under $1!) | WineY Elves

If you’re looking for a cute, quick, easy and inexpensive way to really jazz up and add a Christmassy flare to a bottle of wine you’re bringing as a hostess gift for a holiday party, White Elephant gift exchange, or anything like that – check out these super adorable WineY Elves! They’re easy to make and cheap!

Made with just a few simple items, you may already have around the house. They take only a few minutes to make. If you have a crafting “brown thumb”, you’ll be happy to know that you don’t need any super-human crafting know-how to make them. You can use your imagination to come up with all sorts of cute colors and combinations. They’re sure to be a hit at any party!

Instructions:
(Note: the hat is not actually glued onto wine bottle, just sits on top of it).

Hat: Cut felt into an 8×10 inch rectangle and then fold/roll into a conical shape. (The hardest part, in my opinion, was trying to get the tip of the hat nice and tight). Also, be sure and check to see that the base of the hat fits onto the bottle the way you want it to (not too high, too low, etc.)

When the hat is the size/shape that you are happy with, use your hot glue to tack the hat, up toward the tip and further down at the base. It does not need to be glued the entire length of the hat. For each glue step, carefully hold in place for a moment while the glue sets (be careful, glue is HOT!) You can leave the hat with a backflap, or trim so the bottom edge is flat (I did some of each). You could also trim the felt ahead of time to the exact shape of the cone you are making, but I liked the wider hat and the swirl of fabric going up to the top.

Tip: I actually used a cone that was a large thread spindle (in it’s former life) to hold inside the hat to press the pieces against while gluing. You could use most any hard object that will fit into the hat.

Beard: Decide on size and shape of beard and sketch out “cut lines” on backside of fabric. Beard can be whatever size/shape you want, but approximately 4 inches long by 2-3 inches wide. You can also use a piece of paper to do a practice cut on, hold it in place by the hat to be sure that you like it. When you’re ready, use that paper as your pattern to cut the beard. (I originally drew it out like I was going to mass-produce beard triangles, but ended up doing them one-by-one. Takes a bit more fabric but you end up with a better beard assortment, in my opinion…and do I really need 30 furry triangles?)

Use hot glue to attach beard to the hat. You can put just a couple of drops of glue on the inside of hat in the middle and each edge of beard to hold it.

Nose: Decide where you want the nose to be. Put a drop of hot glue on the hat, then firmly press the wooden ball into place and hold for a moment while the glue sets.

Eyes: Decide where you want the eyes to be, put a drop of hot glue on the hat, and then press the first eye in place. Hold for a moment while glue sets. Repeat for the second eye (see funny story below).

Jingle bell: (optional) Use hot glue to attach a jingle bell, pompom, or even a cotton ball to the tip of the hat. Hold for a moment while glue sets. Can also leave this spot plain.

Candy cane, etc.: (optional) Place the hat on wine bottle to determine where to glue on the candy cane or holiday pick, etc. Remove hat, apply a spot of glue large enough to hold your item, hold until glue sets. If using a holiday pick, you may need to trim down the wire/spike like I did with the white stars on the elf with lime green hat.

A funny thing happened while I was making these…

I was making one of my elves and I got to the part when it’s time to glue the eyes on. While holding the plastic eye in one hand, I used the glue gun to squirt a small amount on the back of it. Even though I was being careful, I somehow managed to touch the glue with my finger, and of course it stuck AND IT WAS HOT! I frantically tried to get it off, and ended up with it stuck on a different finger (STILL HOT!) Further attempts, ended up with it stuck on my thumb (and yes, it was STILL HOT), and in total frustration (and pain) I was shaking my hand to get the dumb thing off of me. It landed on my pant leg and was glued there. (Thankfully there is no video of this episode). Lol!! So, I would advise that you put the glue on the felt and then press the eye onto it. Not the other way around. So, in my case, my crafting “brown thumb” was actually a crafting “burnt thumb”. (No major damage, luckily).

Cost breakdown:

.25 Felt: 25 cents per sheet (I splurged on the fancy white w/black felt, $1.09)
.11 Fur: I paid $3.30 for ½ yard, there’s enough to do about 30+ beards.
.09 Wooden ball: bag with 12 balls was 99 cents.
.09 2 wiggle eyes: bag of 66 was 2.99
.10 Candy canes (holiday picks were about 50 cents apiece)
.15 Jingle bell/pompom (I had these “in stock” so am estimating a price)
.07 Glue stick$0.86 Total (does not include cost of wine) Note: Prices will vary depending on which items you include on your WineY Elf. You can make it with just felt and nose for about 34 cents!

Final Note: While I’m a major supporter of Cardbordeaux (boxed wine), this craft doesn’t work quite as well with the box versus the bottle. Although, you’d probably get some chuckles if you showed up with this. (pictured, right)

So, now all you need to do is grab your glue gun and supplies and make yourself an um… flock? gaggle? pod? herd? … (not sure how a group of elves is defined) Christmas WineY Elf Hostess Gifts!